Building the Hopes of Jambi Food Crop Farmers

Since the beginning of the year until July 2022, food crop farmers, including rice and secondary crops farmers, live their days with bitter smiles. This is because the food crops sub-sector is still sluggish, one of the indicators is the farmer's exchange rate (NTP) for this sub-sector which is always below 100 and in the last seven months has continued to decline. NTP below 100 means that farmers have a deficit. The increase in the price of production goods was relatively smaller than the increase in the price of consumption goods/services and production costs. NTP is a proxy indicator of farmer welfare. NTP is one indicator to see the level of ability/purchasing power of farmers in rural areas. NTP also shows the terms of trade (terms of trade) of agricultural products with goods and services consumed as well as for production costs. NTP is useful for measuring the ability to exchange products sold by farmers with products needed by farmers in household production and consumption. The NTP figure shows the level of competitiveness of agricultural products compared to other products. On this basis, efforts to specialize products and improve the quality of agricultural products can be carried out. The NTP of the food crops subsector, which was built by rice and secondary crops farmers, in January 2022 was recorded at 99.27. Then it fell 0.16 percent in February 2022 to 99.12. In March 2022 it fell 1.75 percent to 97.38. In April 2022 it fell again by 1.99 percent to 95.44. In May 2022 it fell 0.20 percent to 95.25 and then fell back in June 2022 by 0.19 percent to 95.07. And in July 2022 it fell again 0.98 percent at the index number of 94.14. When compared to other sub-sectors, the FTT of the food crops sub-sector is the lowest. NTP January - July 2022 Jambi Province is 9.97 percent higher than the NTP in 2021 in the same period. The highest change occurred in the People's Plantation Sub-sector of 11.90 percent. Meanwhile, the Food Crops Subsector experienced the lowest decline, at 0.78 percent. The highest NTP from January to July 2022 was in the People's Plantation Sub-sector at 144.70 and the lowest was in the Food Crops Sub-sector at 96.49.

The Urgency to Protect Farmers' Rights

The fate of food crop farmers is still sad. Prices of agricultural products often fall at harvest time, while imports of agricultural products continue to increase. In fact, during the pandemic last year, when most sectors were paralyzed, BPS recorded the agricultural sector grew by 1.71 percent. This means that the Indonesian economy is also supported by poor farmers. However, the protection and respect for farmers' rights has not received serious attention in this country. In fact, farmers are the main stakeholders in the agricultural sector in order to support national food security and sovereignty.

In August 2021, the working population of Jambi was dominated by agricultural, forestry, hunting and fishery business personnel with a percentage of 43.75 percent. With an area of ​​​​paddy harvest in 2021 around 64.41 thousand hectares. The wages of farm laborers, for example, are still very low compared to the regional minimum wages, so that the Farmer's Exchange Rate is decreasing. Under the International Treaty Concerning Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The treaty became the main legal instrument related to the protection of farmers' rights.

The scope of this farmer's rights includes:

(1) customary rights to store, use, exchange, and sell seeds and propagation materials stored on agricultural land;

(2) the right to be recognized, respected and supported for the contribution of farmers to global genetic resources and to the development of commercial crop varieties; and

(3) the right to participate in decision-making on issues related to plant genetic resources.

It is important to note that for generations farmers in Indonesia have generally, and perhaps also Jambi, been exchanging seeds among the larger farming community. This seed exchange is part of traditional agricultural wisdom. The involvement of farmers in seed exchange activities is not for commercial purposes, but out of friendship and solidarity to maintain social harmony or harmony. Will this noble attitude disappear? In 2020, the National Economic Recovery (PEN) budget will reach Rp. 695 trillion and the 2021 National Economic Recovery (PEN) budget of Rp. 699.43 trillion. However, not a penny of this budget goes specifically to farmers. The budget ceiling for the 2022 PEN program is Rp 455.6 trillion. Things like this should not happen again. Farmers also need to get protection and guarantees. It's good that some of the 2022 National Economic Recovery budget is allocated to help farmers, including food crop farmers? Now it is very urgent to rethink the fate of farmers, especially food crop farmers, so as not to be taken away by global capitalism by providing fair and proper legal protection. Wouldn't protecting the rights of farmers enable Indonesia to become a food-sovereign country and a stable Jambi? (Jambi Data/Distribution)